Soundgarden To Begin Work On New Album Following Soundwave

Seattle rockers Soundgarden say they will begin work on the follow-up to 2012’s King Animal once they’ve wrapped up touring as part of Soundwave Festival 2015.

Speaking with Fairfax Media recently, Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil revealed the band have made plans to work on new material in the next few months, with an album release looking likely for 2016.

“No studio has been chosen and no songs are written yet,” Thayil said. “When we finish these shows in Australia we’ll spend a month or more working on it. It’s definitely going to happen.

“We worked with producer Adam Kasper on our last album and I wouldn’t be surprised if we hook up with him again,” he added.

As for how the songs will sound, Thayil said the band are comfortable in their shoes and will let the music flow naturally. “Jamming together feels right and the ideas still come to us, so why not?” he said.

“Soundgarden has always written its own rules. We aren’t a metarock band that write rock songs about rock. We do our own thing and that’s what works for us… We don’t write radio hits, you can’t dance to our songs and that’s why we are Soundgarden.”

Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell announced on Twitter in January that he was back in the studio creating the follow-up to his 2011 album, Songbook. Thayil told Fairfax that Soundgarden’s next major project definitely won’t have too many similarities to Cornell’s solo work.

“Chris is very prolific but not all his material is Soundgarden-worthy,” Thayil said. “His songs don’t always strike us as something we like for the band.”

The latest piece of new material to come from the Soundgarden camp came in the form of Storm, a track recorded in May 2014 which feature’s on the band’s rarities and B-sides compilation album, Echo of Miles: Scattered Tracks Across The Path.

Soundgarden perform at the final two legs of Soundwave 2015 — Brisbane and Sydney — this weekend. The group also have a Sydney sidewave lined up on Thursday night. Catch some choice photos from their Melbourne Soundwave performance, below.

Photos: Soundgarden – Soundwave 2015, Melbourne 22/02/15 / Photos: Brett Schewitz

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